“Take the leap! In life a lot of our biggest goals, will push us to become the best version of ourselves. Identify what is that next level for you, what excited you and makes you feel alive. Take the leap and start before you are ready. All of us are closer to the big wild dreams than we realize.” – Greg Nance—
Running a marathon is hard. Imagine for a minute what it’s like to run 7 marathons, in 7 days, on 7 continents. Greg Nance recently completed this World Marathon Challenge. He started with a run of 26.2 miles / 42.2km in Antarctica, then he ran back-to-back marathons in Cape Town, Perth, Dubai, Madrid, Santiago, and Miami! The logistics behind this challenge alone are mind blowing.
In this episode of The Extramilest Show, Greg shares several great stories and lessons about his World Marathon Challenge training, race execution and dealing with tough spots.
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Question of the day, what was one of your key takeaways from this conversation. Please let me know in the comments!
SHOW NOTES
- How Greg got into running, inspired by his dad [3:35]
- Greg’s first marathon experience in Chicago in 2009, finishing in 3 hours 35 minutes [5:20]
- How Greg got into his first trail race [6:20]
- The transition from road running to trail running [7:40]
- Greg’s run across the UK called Hadrian’s Wall Run [8:40]
- How Greg got hit by a drunk driver in Vietnam, getting severely injured [10:15]
- Greg’s training for a 250km run through the Gobi Desert [11:55]
- How the idea came up to run the World Marathon Challenge [15:15]
- Greg trained his body and mind to be able to run 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents [17:50]
- Training volume in hours and miles [20:40]
- Highlights of Greg’s World Marathon Challenge [22:00]
- The flight to the start of the race, from Cape Town, South Africa to Novo, Antarctica [24:25]
- Why Greg ran 45km instead of 42km on his first of 7 marathons [25:30]
- The logistics between marathons on different continents during the World Marathon Challenge [27:20]
- What happened when the wheels came off for Greg after his first marathon and how he dealt with the issues [28:20]
- How Greg dealt with a stomach flu for 6 days during this World Marathon Challenge [30:50]
- How Greg deals with tough spots in a race and his advice to other runner’s struggling [32:25]
- Greg’s thoughts on quitting and negative self talk [36:15]
- The last marathon Greg ran in Miami to complete the final race [39:10]
- Advice for people pushing themselves to the next level[42:00]
- The next adventure runs on Greg’s horizon [43:20]
- How athletes recover during the 7 day World Marathon Challenge [45:20]
- Recommendations by Greg for runners looking to improve [47:30]
- Money Think Charity tied into The World Marathon Challenge [50:40]
LINKS
- Connect with Greg on Instagram
- Greg ran the World Marathon Challenge to help students overcome the financial barriers to college. Support the mission here.
- Read reflections on running 250km thru the Atacama Desert, the world’s driest desert
- Read Greg’s short story on running 250km across the Gobi Desert
- Hadrian’s wall run – 7 day run
- Special thanks to Wentworth whose sponsorship helped Greg #TakeTheLeap and making the World Marathon Challenge possible!
- Greg’s website GregNance.org
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If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy:
- Running Extremely Long Distances with Pete Kostelnick
- Overcome any Challenge in Training, Racing and Life with Charlie Engle
